SDG&E “integrity”
SDG&E and Sempra accused of “Enron-Style” market manipulation, misleading officials, and more
While California is tough on crime with its three-strikes law, it is apparently very lenient with its “regulated” monopolies, San Diego Gas & Electric and its parent company, Sempra Utilities. SDG&E and Sempra have established a repeated pattern of inappropriate actions—again and again—with a trail of fines and settlements, all on the ratepayer’s dime.
Adding to that long list of recent fines and settlements, last month SDG&E agreed to pay the California Public Utilities Commission $14.8 million for interfering with the CPUC investigation into the cause of the 2007 San Diego wildfires. This comes just days after the California Attorney General announced in its press release that Sempra had agreed to pay a $410 million dollar settlement for what was described in testimony as “Enron-style” market manipulation that artificially inflated utility rates for California consumers.
As it relates to the Sunrise Powerlink, SDG&E was fined over $1.1 million dollars last fall for misleading the California Public Utilities Commission about the Southern Route.
There are also claims that SDG&E continues to mislead San Diegans about the Sunrise Powerlink.
“I heard Laura McDonald tell a crowded East County Chamber meeting that there were no fire issues on the southern route,” said Laura Cyphert of the East County Community Action Coalition. “My mouth must have dropped to the floor with the audacity of such a statement, in light of the undeniable fact that the project’s environmental impact report states that this project will significantly increase the likelihood of catastrophic fires. Shouldn’t San Diegans have the right to know that,” she added.
The environmental impact report has in fact classified the Sunrise Powerlink as a Class 1 significant risk, which is the highest risk rating possible.
“I also heard Todd Voorhis, of SDG&E, announce to a crowded Lakeside Community Council meeting that the Sunrise Powerlink would carry 100% renewable energy. In contrast to this statement, SDG&E has refused to guarantee that the line would carry ANY renewable energy.
Despite the pattern of fines and settlements, no politicians (to our knowledge) have come forwarded and demanded reform of this government-regulated monopoly, or of the regulators who oversee it. This may be explained by the fact that SDG&E and Sempra spend millions of ratepayer dollars on donations to politicians; a practice which is only expected to increase now that the Supreme Court ruled early this year that corporations can make unlimited donations to politicians.
Another factor to consider is that the state commissioners are political appointees, and many of the regulators are former utility executives, including the President of the CPUC, Michael Peevy, who is a former executive at Pacific Gas & Electric. He was also the commissioner who authored the approval for the Sunrise Powerlink. In addition, commissioners are often presented with attractive employment offers after leaving their commissioner post. SDG&E’s newest President, Jessie Knight, is a former CPUC commissioner.
And if that were not enough to raise one’s eyebrows, recently KUSI’s TURKO files did an expose on how Sempra and SDG&E executives have a practice of “wining and dining” commissioners at exclusive resorts and clubs. Sempra’s response was that this was just a “common practice.”
And not only does Sempra have close ties with the California regulators, on the Federal side, David Hayes, the newly appointed director of the Interior Department, and the man responsible for approving the siting of transmission projects on federal land, is a former Sempra lobbyist. It was David Hayes that many speculate convinced Senator Dianne Feinstein to put pressure on the US Forest Service to expedite the approval of the Sunrise Powerlink through the Cleveland National Forest.
Unfortunately, it is because of this web of politics, that California is now saddled with a regulatory system that does not regulate, but instead passes ratepayer money around from agency to agency, and from politician to politician, and fails to address the public interest.
It is our opinion that it is well past the time for Californians to demand action against this pattern of abuse, and say enough is enough.
